Samuel Ortom, the Benue State governor, has cried out against alleged threats from the government, saying the Federal Government should be held responsible if anything happened to him.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the governor said since he left the All Progressives Congress (APC) he had been paying salaries, and added that he was no longer under the grip of godfathers.
The governor explained how the Federal Government had been using Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to persecute him and how the cabal in the Villa hated him.
Ortom said he would continue to defend his people, adding that he had decided to take up the challenge by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, who had lamented the absence of an opposition when few people took over the government in Abuja.
He said, “I am doing it in support of our mother, the First Lady. It is a clarion call that all of us should stand up and chase that cabal away because we did not elect any cabal in that Villa.
“If I die today, the Federal Government should be held responsible because they are planning to even eliminate me. I am not going to stop. I will continue to defend my people.
“I know that I am being persecuted because the cabal don’t like me. They do all kinds of things. EFCC has been chasing me and my staff for the past 10 months. And I have not done anything wrong that they have been chasing me all over the place. Persecution is so much, threats on my life.”
The governor pointed out that the president may not be aware of what is happening in the country, adding that when he directed the Inspector General of Police to go to Benue and the police boss went to Nasarawa State, the president said he was not aware.
Ortom said the president may not be aware of what is happening to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.
“Is it the first time that Mr. President is not aware of something? When we were attacked and he directed the IGP to relocate to Benue State and the man went to Nasarawa, and when he came we confronted him, he said he was not aware. And there are many other things Mr. President was not aware of.
“Even when the CJN was to be arraigned, was Mr. President aware? We were told by Vice President (Yemi Osinbajo) that Mr. President was not aware.
“Did you not hear him? Or did you not read it on the pages of newspapers?
“So, maybe this one, too, he is not aware. Because I have not met him one-on-one. I want to assume that he may not be aware. I am not holding brief for him. So, you journalists too can help us get him to be aware.
“That is the challenge we have. But you heard our mother in the nation, Aisha Buhari, came out crying that the husband is no longer ruling. That it is the cabal. And we men should talk. If I undress now, you will see that I am a man,” the governor said.
